(I am posting my last article for July…I am taking some time off to explore the ancient ruins of Scotland and the border regions. I need an extended vacation. I hope you will take some time for yourselves…and restore and rejuvenate…I’ll be back by early August with more ruminations and declarations of freedom and truth!)
Happy July 4th…I think…..?
In recognition of “Independence Day,” I thought it might be helpful to post sections of that excellent Enlightenment Document penned by the slave-holding Thomas Jefferson…that extolls the dignity of every human being, well, except women, poor white men, black people, Indigenous people, Hispanics, and any non-white, non-European immigrant to the US.
On July 4, we celebrate the Declaration of Independence. We are just two years shy of the 300th anniversary of that “sacred” event. And here we are, faced with a reinterpretation of that document.
In light of the recent SCOTUS-MAGA Court decision about presidential immunity, I thought of the words that inspired a generation of Americans to seek their independence from a King who believed he was above the law. It could remind us of what we stand to lose…yep…a former president criminal now thinks he is above the law.
I will list sections of the Declaration of Independence with my comments in italics. History instructs us that the birth of the United States came in violent opposition to the concept of the divine right of kings…which George III (who was certifiably crazy… hmm, seems relevant) adhered to.
But now, our oh-so-wise MAGA Supreme Court Justices, who take extravagant trips and money from MAGA conservative billionaires, are telling us that the early revolutionaries were wrong…it wasn’t tyranny and kingship that caused the firebrand founders to revolt…it was;.. ah…well, something else perhaps.
Presidents are now (the Supreme Court just created a new law) immune from prosecution for violating official actions or presumed otherwise. They are ABOVE THE LAW. Yes, let that sink in. Our MAGA-SCOTUS has declared that presidents (well…at least Donald Trump, anyway) are legally immune for actions taken as President…because he is ABOVE THE LAW.
We fought a war for independence over this very issue.
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From The Declaration of Independence
The history of the present King of Great Britain (aka Donald Trump) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
(Trump ignored public health advice from experts during COVID-19, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of people)
He has forbidden his Governors (i.e., fellow Republicans) to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance…
(example: the immigration reform bill)
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
(example: 165 million women lost their right to reproductive choice because of Trump)
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected…(voter suppression laws encouraged by Trump)
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone….
(Judge Cannon, Kavanaugh, Alito, Gorsuch, Roberts, and Thomas, and hundreds of lower-level judges)
He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people….
(MAGA agents sent to “observe” elections, but really harass poll workers and charge them with unsubstantiated crimes)
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
(Consider: proud boys, “stand back and stand by”….white supremacists are the standing army of Trump)
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation…
(fake electors, presidential immunity)
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world…
(Trump enacted tariffs that are inflationary and detrimental to American consumers and will do so again)
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us…
( January 6th)